Born Wild: Spirit Animals, Book 1

Gr 4–7—Four very different 11 year olds in a fantasy world named Erdas are called to take the Elixir, a potion administered by the Greencloaks to determine whether the children have special powers and can summon an animal spirit. The ritual is something every child goes through between ages 11 and 12, but very few are successful. When Conor, Abeke, Meilin, and Rollan all summon rare and powerful animals, it is a sign that dark forces are about to threaten the stability of Erdas and that they will become part of the forces needed to respond. While the story starts a bit slowly and spends a fair amount of time introducing the protagonists, it picks up when Meilin's city is attacked and she is spirited away. From that point on, the fast-paced action will hold the attention of listeners. Nicola Barber does a stellar job of narrating Mull's tale (Scholastic, 2013). Her slight changes in inflection for each character contribute to the quality of the audiobook. This will be extremely popular in school and public library settings and especially useful for reluctant readers.—John R. Clark, Hartland Public Library, ME